Ham Radio Gutter Antenna

Most of the original article is still relevant but i have.

Ham radio gutter antenna.

I had great time. Also less interference is created to neighbour s tv etc from cw than ssb. Gutters if they are made of metal can carry rf and they can do it reasonably well if some things are kept in mind. In fact the downspout has now become my main antenna.

However i recommend cw for such installations. Time to attach it to the transmatch and hf rig and fire it up. Although varney envisioned his design primarily as a 3 2 wavelength antenna for the 20 meter amateur radio band radio amateurs have used the antenna for multiband use. I originally did a write up on it in 1994.

Make sure there is solid electrical continuity between the various sections of your downspout and gutter. Coincidentally these occurred at the top of the 75 meter band and again in the middle of the 15 meter band. I have wanted to try this for a while but never got around to it until today. That article found its way into several ham radio publications and newsletters.

This all aluminum gutter is fed with coax with an unterminated shield at this end shield connected to radio ground at the other to reduce nearby computer hash from inside the house. I did a quick coax run to the outside gutter and grounded the braided side then connected the feedline to an old mfj tuner. There were a few spots where the rain gutter antenna was under 2 1 swr. They basically function as a random length wire antenna although if you have the space for it and do a little planning and experimentation you could possibly create a system resonant on a particular frequency.

A ham friend of mine recently asked me for the details of how i use my rain gutter and downspout as an antenna. I was surprised that the gutter tuned up at a. I did use rain gutter as antenna and water pipe as ground it worked great from 160 mtr to 10 mtr. The g5rv is an excellent choice for the 20 meter band.

Some words of caution are in order however if you plan to use your rainspout as an antenna. Make sure your gutter and downspout are isolated from ground. Stealth gutter antenna for ham radio or shortwave.